Alright Guys I have decided I want to get a double din unit. So far I have looked into the new clarion 675 max unit, the kenwood ddx-7017 and 6019, and the Jensen. I was looking at the alpine w200 but i dont think i can get one that cheap. Right now I'm more leaning towards the Clarion unit. And I've pretty much ruled out the Jensen because im not sure if it will provide the sq that the other units do.. But it does come with the tv tuner. I just want the best I can get for $650 (ebayed) that is easy to use with IPOD capabilities. Thanks Guys

 

Tough call but I would love to try out that Clarion. The Kenwood 6019 has a good track record around here though. Clarion is also a well respected company. If it was me I'd take a chance and get the Clarion cause it is cram packed and a pretty impressive head unit.

 

check out my gallery for the clarion

pics are from my cell phone (sorry) but you get the idea.

 

thanks man. how do you like it? Hows the over-all usabililty?

 

unit is great, however i wish you could change the screen (background) from time to time.

other than that it's great

went with the clarion over others simply b/c it was a full 7" screen instead of a 6.5". i'm sure there are a few things i would like to have on it, nothing paticular but there is always something, but having the full 7 is nice. fits perfect in the opening

 

JVC's KW-AVX800 Double Din looks like a pretty cool unit. Travis @ kcautosound.com talked it up pretty good to me Monday. I beleive he quoted me like $700 for it but don't remember. I have the DDX7019 with nav.

 

I have looked at this unit too....do you use an ipod with it?

 

nope. i really don't see the importance of them, but to each his own

 

Gasp..........

"the sea was angry that day my friend"

(George Constanza)

 

Agreed. They sure are handy, but nothing like spending thousands on a nice stereo system, then feeding overly compressed music into them.

 

Ah, I see the issue. Bit Compression confusion. One of the cool features of Itunes is that you can control the amount of compression.

I do agree that to each his own. I am not a MAC fan, but I do think that IPODS and ITUNES are really slick and its impressive technology.

My .02

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Ipods and Itunes are great technology. Just probably not for audiophiles until the capacity goes way up so you can store completely uncompressed music. So far, the best lossless compression I have found (although I haven't looked very hard) is wma lossless which compresses at about 2 to 1 which means a full CD will take up 350 meg or so. Will an Ipod play .wma?

I love buying music on Itunes, its so great that you can just buy the song you want, but the file size is only 3 or 4 meg- You know you're not getting the un-compressed quality.

 

Indeed Itunes will play it. Here's how.
Open Itunes....File, Add File to Library. It doesn't import them persay but they show in the library. Move any song you want from that file to a play list and it will sync with the IPOD...presto you are now enjoying your incredibly large uncompressed song.

I would argue that someone listening to the same song in .wma vs ACC on a high end system (lilke H/K, Yamaha, etc) is going to be able to tell the difference.

Using in a car where you are getting 2-6v pre-out from most after market HU's dealing with all kinds of noise interference, hooked to an amp, with CAP or no CAP then running seperates or 2-3ways along with subs is going to be able to tell the diffrence in the two sources.

I have run it both ways. Used an IPAC with direct RCA outputs and with an IPOD listening to the same song...no diffreence. They are both loud as Chitt.

 

Maybe I'll pick up an Ipod and give it a try after I get my system installed. I don't have great ears overall, but a buddy of mine made me a similar bet a while back. He's an Ipod guru, and I had no idea about them at the time, (about 6 months ago if it makes a difference). He told me there was no way I could tell the difference if he did the compression. Handed him one of my favorite CD's and said have at it. Half hour later, we had the CD in my Elite CD player hooked up to an RX-V1, and he had his Ipod hooked to an auxillary input on the RX-V1. We even used a line level input from my CD Player to the RX-V1 just to be fair. It wasn't even close.

Now this was at home with low ambient noise, but the sound just wasn't there. I don't know how to explain it, but the dynamic range was not good, and it just sounded muddled. It wasn't horrible by any means, but I'm not willing to compromise after paying so much for good audio equipment.

However, they were both able to play "Loud as Chitt". ;-)

When I get it all hooked up, I'll pick up an Ipod. Wife wants one anyway for jogging etc. I'll give it a shot in the car before I buy a changer for my Pioneer D3 and we'll see how it goes.... I'd love to not install a changer.

 

I understand dynamic range and harmonics etc...at home I have a Yamaha RXV2300 with Klipsch KLF20's, they image really nice..my ipod sounds pretty solid. I use only Optical out/in....to be honest, I haven't put a CD in our player in don't know when...but we do have a IPOD doc that has an optical output...so I use that. I am pretty impressed with our sound but then again, i don't play CD's but I can get what you are saying. I think you'll notices more sound degradation when using the ipod with ear buds vs hipower in the car/truck

With your application this is what I would try. Get the 80gig video ipod...load all your music and convert what you want for ACC format. Then enable DISC use on the IPOD. Plug in to your home system and navigate to the files..play your music. I haven't tired that on the ipod but its worth a shot.

Or borrow your friends and do the same thing, that way you know if it works or not before you invest in the ipod. I use the Video ipods b/c of my daughter...we converted her DVD so they would play on the ipod...keeps everyone happy when we are eating out etc.